Indian dailies give wide coverage to emergency declaration in Pak

The Sunday Times (Times of India) went with the peppy headline “Gen’s Last Gamble”.

However, unlike the lively heading, the story was straightforward, saying: “Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Saturday, deploying troops and sacking a top judge in a bid to reassert his flagging authority against political rivals and Islamist militants.”

The Hindustan Times also opted to give a vigorous angle to the story through its headline, which said “Musharraf’ Second Coup.”

“Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of Emergency on Saturday evening and told Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry his services were no longer required, suspended the Constitution and issued a new provisional constitution order,” said the lead paragraph of the story.

n the other hand, The Hindu kept both its headline and the story factual. Its headline read “Musharraf Imposes Emergency”

The first half of the story concentrated on Musharraf’s declaration, replacement of the Chief Justice, and the military activities in the Capital soon after the imposition of emergency.

The latter part dealt with the reactions of the top leaders of Pakistan and other parts of the world, including former premier Nawaz Sharif and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The Indian Express also kept its story straightforward under the heading “Musharraf imposes Emergency rule.”

However, its story was a little different from others in way that after reporting the imposition of emergency rule in the introduction, the next paragraph talked about the reaction of Washington.

“The United States called the move ‘very disappointing.’” It said.

The Asian Age titled the story “Pak under Musharraf law,” while The Pioneer gave a simple heading “Emergency in Pak.” (ANI)